Scott wrote <I find Seattle drivers . . . do things like routinely stop for bicyclists even when the motorist has the right of way. I attribute this to "liberal guilt.">
I have found Madison drivers doing this more often to me, as well, but I view this more with a cup half empty perspective than Scott's cup half full. Rather than liberal guilt, I attribute motorists in Madison yielding to bicyclists in situations where the bicyclist has to stop or yield, not the motorist, to the motorist's so often observing bicyclists not stopping or yielding that their expectation is that I am not going to stop so the motorist yields to accommodate the bicyclist's (me in this case) expected failure to do so. When I stop and wave the motorist on, they don't seem to know what to do, it takes them a long time to get going and sometimes they seem mad at me for not going. This just happened to me on my way back to the office from a meeting. I was at a red signal waiting to turn left with my foot down, off the saddle, on the left side of the lane, holding my left arm outstretched. A motorist was opposite me at the red signal intending to go straight. When the signal turned green I stayed put, arm still outstretched, foot still on the ground, waiting for this motorist to go. She didn't move for the longest time. Was she (a) just being polite? (b) confused as to what I might do? (c) distracted talking on her cell phone and didn't realize the signal had changed? I didn't notice her on the phone, nor did I see her wave me through, so my vote is for (b) despite my clear communication that I was waiting / yielding to her as required. Arthur Arthur Ross, Pedestrian-Bicycle Coordinator City of Madison Traffic Engineering Division 215 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Suite 100 PO Box 2986 Madison, WI 53701-2986 608/266-6225 _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
